NASA chief rules out manned Moon mission in the foreseeable future
The Verge – AARON SOUPPOURIS – Apr 7, 2013
NASA administrator Charles Bolden has dismissed the idea that the space agency will attempt another manned Moon mission. Speaking with contemporaries, Bolden said “NASA will not take the lead on a human lunar mission… probably in my lifetime.” Bolden added that if the next administration reverses NASA’s decision it would set back the manned space program in its entirety. He warned that, should we divert resources towards a manned moon mission in the future, we would probably never “see Americans on the Moon, on Mars, near an asteroid, or anywhere” in our lifetimes, explaining that “we cannot continue to change the course of human exploration.” Go to story
excerpt from Life Comes from Life, Chapter 4: The Billion-Dollar Dustheap:
PRABHUPADA: Now there is a scarcity of water in India, but what are the scientists doing about it? There is more than enough water in the world, so why don’t the scientists bring water where it is urgently required? They should employ irrigation immediately. But instead they are going to the moon, the dusty planet, to make it fertile. Why don’t they irrigate this planet? There’s plenty of seawater, so why don’t they irrigate the Sahara or the Arabian or Rajasthani Desert? “Yes,” they say, “in the future. We are trying.” In their pride, they immediately say, “Yes, yes. We are trying.” In Bhagavad-gītā it is said that when one is engaged in the business of satisfying unnecessary desires, he becomes bereft of all intelligence (kāmais tais tair hṛta-jñānāḥ [Bg. 7.20]).
This moon project is childish. Those who aspire to go to the moon are like crying children. A child cries, “Mother, give me the moon,” so the mother gives the child a mirror and says, “Here is the moon, my dear son.” And the child takes the mirror, sees the moon in it and says, “Oh, I have the moon.”
Unfortunately, this is not just a story.
KARANDHARA: After spending all that money to go to the moon and bring back just a few rocks, the people on the space project decided that there was nothing more to do there.
BRAHMANANDA SWAMI: Now they want to go to another planet, but they are short of money. Going to other planets costs millions and billions of dollars.
PRABHUPADA: People work very hard while the rascal government takes taxes and spends money unnecessarily. There should be no sympathy when so much hard-earned money comes from the public and is spent so foolishly. Now the leaders are presenting another bluff, “Don’t worry, we are going to another planet. Now we shall bring more dust. We shall bring tons of dust. Oh, yes, now we shall have tons of dust.”
DR. SINGH: They believe there may be life on Mars.
PRABHUPADA: They may believe or not believe. What is the difference? Life exists here, but people are fighting. So suppose there is life on Mars. There is life on Mars, undoubtedly. But what will we gain from this?
DR. SINGH: People are curious to know what is going on there.
PRABHUPADA: That means that for their childish curiosity they must spend vast sums of money. Just see the fun. And when they are asked to help one of the many poverty-stricken countries, they say, “No. No money.” Do you see?
